REVIEW: “Dark Was The Night” charity compilation

Last week I mentioned that I’ve enlisted the help of some friends who are writing record reviews and features for Ear Candy. Below is a review of the indie rock star-studded double-disc charity record “Dark Was The Night” as written by my friend and colleague Brian Kerin.

Dark Was the Night reflects the past and looks to the future in a way that only experiencing the dark stormy evening before the calm of morning arrives. Proceeds from the 31-song compilation benefits the long-running AIDS charity Red Hot, and it is filled with famous acts like Arcade Fire, The Decemberists, Spoon, Sharon Jones and the Dap kings, and Bon Ive

The first disk, dubbed “This CD,” has a vintage feel, focusing more on traditional styles of music and arrangements rather than the contemporary themes the featured artists are known for. It opens with “Knotty Pine” a great track by the Dirty Projectors and David Byrne. With its bouncy bass line and weighty, well-sung chorus the song is a great collaboration for both artists.

Other artists with good songs on the first disc are Yeasear with the catchy “Tightrope,” Grizzly Bear’s moody and solemn “Deep Blue Sea,” and The National doing a solid song about life in NYC called “So Far Around the Bend.” However, the best track on the first disc comes from Sufjan Stevens.

At over nine minutes long, “You Are the Blood” is an electronic fueled –progressively structured–mind f*ck, that closes out the disc in a really extravagant way. The song is unlike anything Stevens has done before (at least not that this music fan has heard from his catalog) and makes a second appearance, at least in part, on the second disc where it serves as the foundation for a Buck 65 remix called “Blood Pt. 2.”

The second installment in this compilation, “That CD,” opens like a canine unleashed at a dog park. This time around the dog’s name is Spoon, and he’s been confined in a car far to long, as shown in the up-tempo bass guitar leading the way on “Well Alright.” I literally had forgotten how good Spoon is when this song came out of the speakers; and after it was over I swore I would never make the same mistake again.

Arcade Fire, Beirut, and My Morning Jacket keep it going for the next three songs. There are another couple of decent songs after that, but somewhere around the halfway point of “That CD” I realized that both discs follow the same kind of arc in structure.

Both open solidly and keep the listener fully connected for the handful of opening tracks, but somewhere around the halfway point there is the disconnect, and neither disc managed to bring my ears — or my feet — back in line. I guess these two CDs could have been whittled down to one really solid compilation, yet I also realize a lot songs by notable names would not have make the cut. Oh well, I guess I’ll just deal with getting more music for my moneys worth. Oh yeah, the money — at least some of it went to charity.